What makes this new piece of hardware special is that it’s made by Sony, it runs games for the PS Vita handheld game system and it acts as an extender for Sony’s upcoming Playstation 4 console (allowing gamers to play PS4 games on more than just the connected television).

That’s right, with one piece of hardware, Sony just preemptively stole a bunch of Apple’s thunder, smacked the Xbox One (something it’s been getting quite good at), kicked poor Nintendo (NTDOY) while it’s down and breathed some new life into its ailing PS Vita handheld business.

I sure didn’t see that one coming.

The PS Vita TV is an unassuming looking box, about the size of a deck of cards. But that simple appearance belies some powerful internals. It has a cartridge slot that lets users play Vita video games and also accepts Vita memory cards (for playing downloaded or saved games). It also plays PSOne Classic games and PSP games. It uses a standard Sony DualShock 3 wireless controller that any current Sony PS3 user already owns — Sony will also sell the PS Vita TV in a bundle with a controller and memory card for $50 more.

While it won’t be able to match Apple (or the various Android game consoles’) selection or price for games, the PS Vita TV will offer access to a considerable library of proven Sony titles (including franchise games that are unlikely to be released as mobile apps), along with any supported cartridges users already own.

And the hardware — several generations deep and optimized for gaming — means the gameplay and graphics will likely blow away anything the Android boxes and AppleTV (which rely on mobile apps aimed at “casual” players) are capable of. The integration with Sony’s tried-and-true DualShock 3 controller is also likely to provide a superior gaming experience.

But what if you already own a PS Vita and want to play against someone else?